The present disclosure relates generally to a tonneau cover assembly for a vehicle bed and more particularly to a pivotable hinge assembly for a tonneau cover capable of accommodating both square and non-square pickup truck beds.
Pickup trucks are used to haul various items, such as business merchandise, camping equipment, and furniture. It is sometimes necessary to transport this cargo under cover (e.g., to protect against theft or inclement weather), while still allowing for large cargo that extends upwardly past the side rails of the pickup. Furthermore, pickup truck beds can be prone to reduced fuel economy when uncovered due to drag created by the tailgate and airflow through the open truck bed. Accordingly, it is known to employ a removable tonneau cover over a pickup truck bed in order to protect bed contents (e.g., from inclement weather and/or theft) and to reduce vehicle drag for improved fuel economy.
In the prior art, pickup truck beds have been covered by a tonneau-type cover either attached to the sidewalls of the truck bed or secured to a portion of the vehicle cab. Exemplary tonneau covers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,893 entitled “Folding Hard Panel Tonneau Cover With Rail Attachment” which issued to Wheatley et al. on Jun. 10, 1997; U.S. Pat. No. 7,021,693 entitled “Pickup Bed Cover” which issued to Keller on Apr. 4, 2006; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,188,888 entitled “Tonneau System Latch” which issued to Wheatley et al. on Mar. 13, 2007. These patents are incorporated by reference herein. The tonneau covers described in these patents fail to include any mechanism or device for accommodating movement of side rails of the tonneau cover assembly when the bed is non-square.
In accordance with the present invention, a pickup truck bed tonneau cover assembly is provided. In another aspect, the pickup truck bed tonneau cover has a plurality of hinge assemblies. In another aspect, the hinge assemblies have a contoured profile to allow for rotation within the tonneau cover assembly to accommodate a non-square truck bed.
The present tonneau cover and its assembly onto a pickup truck bed are advantageous over prior truck bed tonneau covers. For example, the present device and method advantageously reduce the number of parts needed for alternate designs. Notably, different vehicle bed lengths and shapes can be accommodated with the same tooling. Additional advantages and features of the present invention will be found in the following description and accompanying claims, as well as in the appended drawings.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.